Ryan Lesser

Ryan Lesser
EducationRhode Island School of Design
Occupation(s)Art director, creative director

Ryan Lesser is an American video game and board game designer, musician and graphic artist living in Providence, Rhode Island. A graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, he is best known for his design and art direction on influential video games Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, Rock Band[1] and The Beatles: Rock Band.[2][3]

Lesser is an art director at video game developer CD Projekt Red in their American studio The Molasses Flood, faculty at Rhode Island School of Design[4] and Founder of Wild Power Games.[5] From 1999–2018, Lesser served as creative lead and art director at Harmonix.[6] He was a member of the heavy metal band Megasus. In the early- to mid-1990s, Lesser worked[7] with Shepard Fairey on the street art phenomena "Andre the Giant has a Posse"[8] and "Obey,"[9] and edited Helen Stickler's video documentary André the Giant Has a Posse and co-created Attention Deficit Disorder[10] with Shepard Fairey.[11]

In 2014, Lesser led a successful Kickstarter campaign[12] for the Harmonix video game Amplitude to ship on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3.

Games

Name Year Credited with Publisher
Harmonix
Guitar Hero 2005 Art director, art lead, designer Red Octane
Guitar Hero II 2006 Art director, designer Red Octane
Rock Band 2007 Art director, art lead, designer Electronic Arts
Rock Band 2 2008 Art director, designer MTV Games
The Beatles: Rock Band 2009 Art director MTV Games
Amplitude 2015 Creative lead Harmonix
Rock Band 4 2016 Creative lead Harmonix

Patents

Lesser is listed as an inventor on the following patents:

Date of patent Patent number Title
04/23/09 8690670 Systems and methods for simulating a rock band experience[13]
03/19/09 20090075711 Systems and methods for providing a vocal experience for a player of a rhythm action game[14]
08/06/02 6429863 Method and apparatus for displaying musical data in a three dimensional environment[15]
01/01/13 D673582 Display screen or portion thereof with boombox icon[16]

Notes and references

  1. ^ "Ryan Lesser (Person)". Giant Bomb. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  2. ^ Radosh, Daniel (2009-08-11). "While My Guitar Gently Beeps". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  3. ^ "A Day In The Life: Creating The Beatles: Rock Band". www.gdcvault.com. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  4. ^ "Ryan Lesser | RISD". Archived from the original on 2019-03-29. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  5. ^ "Ryan Lesser | Board Game Designer | BoardGameGeek".
  6. ^ MTV Multiplayer » Harmonix on ‘Guitar Hero III’ — Bittersweet, Like Seeing Kids Off to College
  7. ^ "Fairey Faces the Giant | RISD". www.risd.edu. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  8. ^ "Shepard Fairey".
  9. ^ "The Art Evolution of Shepard Fairey". Complex Networks.
  10. ^ "Attention Deficit Disorder - The Giant: The Definitive Obey Giant Site". www.thegiant.org. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  11. ^ Attention Deficit Disorder
  12. ^ Tach, Dave (2014-05-05). "Amplitude may get a crowdfunded sequel from Harmonix called Amplitude". Polygon. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  13. ^ "Systems and methods for simulating a rock band experience".
  14. ^ "Systems and methods for providing a vocal experience for a player of a rhythm action game".
  15. ^ "Method and apparatus for displaying musical data in a three dimensional environment".
  16. ^ http://patents.com/us-d673582.html